Ethan Zuckerman of the WorldChanging [1] blog writes eloquently about the importance of mobile phones [2] in low-income communities. He identifies three factors critical to the spread of mobile telephony: new versus replacement infrastructure, pay-as-you-go pricing, and used phones.

Zuckerman is right on. By leapfrogging landline infrastructure, developing communities have been able to adopt modern technology faster and cheaper than we have in the U.S., for example. Pay-as-you-go pricing, meanwhile, lets low-income consumers afford to make a call when they need to, rather than sign up for lengthy guaranteed contracts – as documented in this case study of Smart Communications [3] in the Philippines. Used phones, operating on analog networks, are often more affordable than new GSM handsets - and the shipping containers they arrive in can even be used as shared-access, entrepreneur-run phone shops [4].

However, it’s only towards the end of his post where Zuckerman hits the nail on the head: “More fundamental than these three factors is the fact that very poor people are willing to pay money to communicate.” He cites Grameen Phone as an example – read the case study here [5]. (PDF)

Mobile telephony is already profitable for the telecoms. Now the question is: how do we incorporate this leapfrog innovation into a range of pro-poor business models? Stay tuned.